They work tirelessly all day under the harsh rays of a blazing sun, the stench of death and destruction around them. They are a team of Jewish heroes who are working around the clock with one mission: the recovery of human bodies.

The SA Friends of the Beit Halochem Zahal Disabled Veterans Organisation was established in Johannesburg in 1982, its primary goal being to help and support Zahal disabled veterans by raising funds to help them return and resume their normal lives as soon as possible.

There’s a popular weekly satirical show in Israel called Eretz Nehederet. In a recent episode, an actor playing Benny Gantz, the former Chief of Staff of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and newcomer to Israeli politics, is asked how he’s feeling.

Devotion to the cause of the State of Israel flourishes in the most unlikely places, even in societies where the Jewish presence is small to non-existent. Such is the case in Mozambique, where the work of Beth-El Associacao Crista Amigos De Israel - Mozambican Christian Friends of Israel - testifies to how much can be achieved by those inspired by their Christian faith to promote the Israeli cause, despite adverse conditions.

JNF’s unique “Blue Boy Box” now lives at King David Linksfield Pre-Primary so that children of each generation learn the importance of tzedakah (charity or welfare). It is the responsibility of Jews all over the world to build Israel, develop it and nurture it as the home of the Jewish nation

“Knowledge is Light” was our school motto when I was a child in Durban. The importance of education was made clear to us from as far back as I can remember. It wasn’t taken for granted. A good education was a privilege.

(JTA) Norwegian rapper not charged with hate speech
A Norwegian rapper who cursed Jews while performing at an event in Oslo promoting multiculturalism will not be charged with hate speech, because his words may have been criticism of Israel, prosecutors said.

Did Israeli soldiers violate international law by deliberately targeting unarmed children, journalists, health workers, and people with disabilities during the past year of violence along the Israel-Gaza border?

(JTA) After the New England Patriots beat the favoured Kansas City Chiefs to reach their third straight Super Bowl – their amazing ninth in less than 20 years – CBS sports analyst Boomer Esiason made an intriguing statement, namely that Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

We are winging our way towards Human Rights Day (21 March), the first public holiday of the year, which coincides with Purim. I can’t help but wonder about our concept of human rights and what it means, not least of all, to our government.

President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed in parliament last week that South Africa intended to downgrade its diplomatic presence in Israel. The foreign affairs bureaucracy was working “feverishly” on the matter. “The decision to downgrade the embassy in Israel is informed precisely by the violation of the rights of Palestinians and we are therefore putting pressure on Israel. But at the same time, we are saying we are willing to play a role and ensure there is peace,” said Ramaphosa.

Undeterred, and in spite of the hate-filled disparagement that spewed forth when Shashi Naidoo uttered positive comments about Israel and Jews last year, Haafizah Bhamjee penned a reasoned and sensible article on Israel and the Palestinians in the SA Jewish Report of 22 February.

With Prince William’s historic visit to Israel this week, all eyes have been trained on the Jewish capital. It may have taken 70 years, but the first official visit by a member of the British Royal family began in Israel on Monday, when William, the Duke of Cambridge, arrived in Tel Aviv.

Some 5 600 emissaries (shluchim) from Chabad-Lubavitch from all over the world gathered at the Pier 8 warehouse in Brooklyn, New York this week for the opening of their four-day annual international conference and banquet, 75 years after the arrival of the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, from Europe.

One of the questions that haunts the story of Purim and moves silently through the lines of the Megillah is clear and chillingly simple: How could Jews have chosen to remain in Persian Shushan? It was so clearly an environment in which anti-Semitism was so prevalent that a genocide could be planned and almost implemented without comment by broader society.

“The greatness of our nation is that our people are great. We are a nation of heroes, of people with good and decent moral fibre who will not tolerate our country being plundered!” So said Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein in Pretoria this morning.“This is a struggle for accountability and justice,” Goldstein told the crowd (which included prominent Jewish CEOs like Adrian Gore, Stephen Koseff and Michael Katz). “This struggle is about sovereignty. The power of the people always triumphs in the end.”

UOS Congregations

Gardens Shul - glorious past, bright future

It all began in September, 1841, when 17 men gathered for the Kol Nidrei service at the home of Benjamin Norden, which today forms part of the Mount Nelson Hotel. The next month, the Cape Town Hebrew Congregation, the first in the country, was officially founded.

by
MOIRA SCHNEIDER | Aug 24, 2016

Pictured: Rabbi and Rebbetzin Feldman - PHOTOGRAPHER GUY LERNERIn 1863, its synagogue, the first in sub-Saharan Africa, was inaugurated and became the hub of Jewish life in South Africa until 1905 when the current Edwardian edifice was consecrated.

Could those early pioneers have dreamt that almost two centuries later, 650 people would gather to celebrate another momentous event - 175 years of what is affectionately called the Gardens Shul’s existence and indeed, that of South Africa’s Jewish community?

As much as last week’s gala dinner at the Century City Conference Centre was dedicated to this milestone, it also served as a tribute to the shul’s dynamic Rabbi Osher Feldman and his wife Sarah, who in the 10 years since their arrival, have succeeded in rejuvenating the historic congregation.

Chairman Solly Berger noted that the shul’s 100-year mark (in wartime 1941) had been no time for celebrations; its 150 years in 1991 was commemorated with a much-reduced congregation, due to the emigration of previous decades.

“There were difficult times when we were not sure the congregation would survive its tribulations.”

But, he said: “The golden years were on the horizon. In 2007 we hit the jackpot when we employed (then 24-year-old) Rabbi Oshie Feldman and his wife Sarah and the aging community began revitalising.”

Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, Chief Rabbi of the British Commonwealth, delivered the keynote address and was accompanied by his wife Valerie.

Rabbi Feldman’s parents, Rabbi Pinchus Feldman OAM and his wife, Peninah, travelled from Australia for the occasion. Other dignitaries included Rebbetzen Sarah’s parents, Rabbi Yossy Goldman, president of the South African Rabbinical Association, and his wife, Rochel; Av Beth Din Rabbi Moshe Kurtstag and Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein and his wife Gina.

“The Gardens Shul does not look its age; it is 175 years young,” Rabbi Goldstein stated. “We have gathered to pay tribute to a shul whose best days lie ahead.

“Cape Jewry too is such an example to all South African Jewry for its cohesion, unity, sense of purpose and organisation and everything it does with such professionalism.”

For his part, Rabbi Osher Feldman recalled it was “love at first sight”, when he and Sarah walked into the shul. “Ten years later, we look back and our hearts are bursting with gratitude.

“We love South Africa, we love Cape Town and we are proudly confident in the future of our community and our country.”

Rabbi Mirvis referred to “175 glorious years for the Gardens Synagogue and for all of South African Jewry” as well as the “magnificent” spiritual leader of this community. “Valerie and I witnessed first-hand the deep impact you’re making on so many lives,” he said to Rabbi Feldman, referring to the previous Shabbat that they had spent at the synagogue.

Rabbi Mirvis noted that Abraham our Patriarch had lived to the age of 175 and that the four most outstanding features of his life were matched by the achievements of the Gardens Shul and South African Jewry: Faith, righteousness, the recognition of the centrality of the Land of Israel to the Jewish psyche and the importance of education for the future.

“I will always be so proud to be a product of the South African day school movement,” the chief rabbi added.

Choni G, introduced by master of ceremonies Nik Rabinowitz as the “One Direction” of chazzans, provided a musical interlude, while singer Johnny Clegg had the crowd clapping along and dancing in the aisles to some of his well-known hits, ending the inspiring evening on a high note.

3 Comments

3
Jonni
09 Sep

Mazaltov ; my late father sang in the choir many years ago before moving to Joburg and I have very fond memories of this beautiful Shul

2
Sheila
25 Sep

Wonderful looking back. Elie and I were married there. I remember all the Rosh Hashanahs and the Yom Kippurs and the pesachs. For these occasions we bought new clothes and all the kids were dressed in their finest. At times the upstairs was so full that the kids had to sit on the stairs. During the rabbi's speech (Rabbi Abrahams) all the kids went out to the museum to look at the bushmen. Those were the good old days

1
joel goldstein
17 Mar

Whenever I am in Cape Town I go to this beautiful shul.The inside is like stepping back in time to the old days, but the real gem is the handmade glass coloured windows with scenes from the torah.